Scarlett Boys
by unglittering gold
Summary: When Luke Scarlett joins older brother Will in Robin Hood's gang he rescues a girl who may just prove very useful to the gang.LukeOC. WillDjaq. RobinMarion.
1. Will Worries

A/N The usual disclaimer. The characters and Places of Robin Hood are the property of the BBC. Except of course for those whom I have created myself. This is purely for entertainment purposes. So, enjoy, and please tell me what you think!

UnglitteringGold

"Where is He?" The usually calm Will Scarlett shouted as he slammed his fist down on the counter.

"Oi! Watch it! That's our food cooking there that is!" Much snapped, annoyed by the younger man's impatience but more by Will's disturbance of the food he was so painstakingly working on with Djaq.

Will slumped into onto a bench and threw Much an apologetic look, "Sorry." He muttered quietly scanning the walls of the Outlaw camp taking comfort in his handiwork, "It's just he should have been here by now."

Much attempted a reassuring smile but it was lost on the young man now slouched forward with his head in his hands. From across the small camp Robin Hood glanced worriedly at his friend and follower. This was a state not common to Will, worried filled idleness could not be good for a man rarely found without something in his hands. Following the pull of an intense stare, Robin turned to face Marion seated cross legged across from him. She reached for the map on the floor between them and rolling it up gestured with a slight jerk of her head towards Will. Robin rose from his seated position and strode across the camp and sat himself down on the bench next to the dark haired boy.

"Will." He began, placing an arm around the other man's orange clad shoulder, "Luke is a smart boy. He knows what he's doing, or I wouldn't be allowing him to come here. He can take care of himself, I know he's your little brother, but when he's one of us, I can't have you being like this every time he leaves the camp. Am I going to have to send him back to Scarborough?"

A startled look on his face, Will's head shot up from his hands, "NO."

Robin nodded, "That's what I thought. He'll be here soon Will. It's not easy traveling here alone. But I'll tell you what. We give him one more hour and if he still hasn't arrived we'll head out to look for him, alright?"

Will nodded dully and Robin squeezed his shoulder as he pushed himself to his feet, shrugged towards Marion as if to say, "I tried" and returned to his original location by her side.

As Will began to fidget, pulling absentmindedly at his hair and tapping his foot, Much slowly reached around the counter to slip Will's axe around and place it safely out of reach. Djaq shot him a disgusted look as she dropped the last of the potatoes into a pot over a fire and Much looked away from her muttering about what could happen, and "you never know" probably recalling the breakdown Will had suffered after the death of his father. No sooner had Djaq taken a seat next to Will and ran her hand comfortingly down his back when he suddenly leaped to his feet.

"Will! What?" she exclaimed, hurt by his rejection of her touch. Will though held out a hand, "SSSSHHHHH! Listen" Even Robin and Marion fell silent as they all strained to hear over the hissing of boiling potatoes. Shortly a faint voice broke through crying out for Will. Without a moment's hesitation, Will bolted outside yelling back, "LUKE! LUKIE!" In almost the same moment, Robin, Marion, Much and Djaq were on their feet and out into the forest. They were stopped short by Will standing above a hill staring dumbfounded down. Following his gaze, the others gasped in shock to see Luke Scarlett standing at the bottom, collapsing under the weight of a traveling sack and the teenage girl he was holding limp in his arms.


	2. Mystery stranger

**A/N once again: Disclaimer, Robin Hood is the property of the BBC. **

**Thanks for all the great feedback; I hope that you enjoy this addition as well. It is a little short for my tastes..but its longer than the introduction. **

**It is now 2:40 am, I was on a roll so stayed up to type but now I am very tired and I think that I shall go to bed. **

The gang was spurred into action as Luke cried out, "WILL! ROBIN! ANYONE! HELP!". Will and Robin stumbled down the hill while Much, Marion and Djaq raced back towards the camp. Reaching the bottom first, Robin reached out and carefully gathered the unmoving girl from Luke's arms into his. Luke dropped his arms in relieve and falling to his knees let his travel sack slid off his shoulder and hit the ground. Within moments Will slid across the leaf covered ground to wrap his arms around his little brother's neck, pulling Luke's head to his chest.

"Luke" Will breathed out the name like it was the breath he had been holding in all day.

"Watch Out! I'm Coming!" the three men startled, looked up to see Djaq's small dark form slipping down the hill at a speed causing Robin to step out of the way as she ran a full seven or eight feet extra into the woods when she had reached the bottom. Panting slightly, Djaq threw a skin filled with water to Will, who managed to throw out an arm to catch it before it hit his brother's head.

She then moved quickly to Robin and draped a blanket over his arms and the body of the girl still hanging from them, "Quickly, we must get her inside. Marion and Much are making a bed" Robin glanced back worriedly at Luke who was leaning against Will as his chest fell rapidly up and down in dry heaves.

Djaq pulled impatiently at Robin's arm and Will nodded in the general location of the camp, "I've got Him. Go!"

Wasting no more time, Robin held the girl up a little higher and ascended the hill with long, quick paced strides, Djaq running up alongside him.

Back down as the base of the hill, Will shuffled around behind Luke, wrapped his arm around Luke's shoulder, bending it back up at the elbow to tilt and hold back his brother's head and poured some water into Luke's gaping mouth.

"Take it easy Lukie. Deep breaths." Will whispered, pulling back the water skin. Irritated, Luke snatched the skin from Will's hand and brought it back up to his mouth.

"Well," Will muttered, relinquishing the water, "you can't be in that bad of shape then". Luke weakly shoved his elbow into Will's side but leaned further onto him as he guzzled down the water. Absentmindedly stroking his brother's hair, Will waited for Luke to finish hydrating himself and wondered what was happening back at the camp.

When Robin and Djaq entered Camp, Much was pulling soggy potatoes out of the pot and Marion was pulling a blanket over the benches she had shoved together into a makeshift bed. Robin brushed past Marion and slowly began lowering the girl onto the benches. No sooner had the girls' head hit the rolled up shirt Marion had made into a pillow than Djaq pushed forward with her box of supplies and began to methodically examine her patient.

Stepping back and crossing his arms Robin asked, "What do you think?"

Djaq answered "Weak. Very much so, but I think she will make it" but Robin who was looking at Marion did not respond in turn.

Marion shrugged and studied the unconscious girl. She was young, probably around sixteen or seventeen years old, short but with an average build. Besides a red robe that was to large to have been made for her, the girl wore no other items of clothing. Her hair was in thick tangles around her head, a chestnut brown color with just a hint of red and her face, seemingly pretty was marred by a large bruise covering the right side.

"I could not say. The robe is of good make, but it does not fit her. She could have gotten it anywhere. She could be noble, she could be peasant. " Marian said finally.

Robin nodded and letting out a sigh, ran his hand over his beard, "Guess we have to wait for Luke."


	3. Luke Explains

**A/N : Robin Hood is the property of the BBC. And watching some Robin Hood the other night, Will's big episode of course ******** I noticed that Luke was staying in Scarsborugh not Scarsdale as I had originally typed. Thought I would just clear that up. Oh yes and**_**Eithne**_** is an Irish name pronounced like En-ya. **

"What is happening here?" a rough voice asked from the entrance, "Will is dragging little Lukie up a hill and - " Little John's sentence fell short as his eyes landed on their mystery girl, "is that a girl?"

Amused by his larger companion's wide eyed surprise, Robin grinned and said, "yes, John. It's a girl." However, as Little John started to open his mouth to ask another question, Robin raised one of his hands, "We don't know. Luke brought her."

Little John's eyebrows disappeared into his wild mass of black and gray hair, but he made no comment, instead laying down his stick and striding over to stick his face in Much's pot of food.

Much angrily swatted at Little John demanding that everyone just leave him alone until the stew was done as Will and Luke stumbled through the door. Luke had one of his arms up around Will's shoulders, the height difference making it seem as though Will was dragging him. Will was carrying Luke's bag on one arm with the other wrapped around his brother's torso holding him upright. Rushing forward before Robin, Marion slipped Luke's free arm around her own shoulders and eased him from Will's hold to a seat on a stool. She then crouched down next to him, keeping a hand reassuringly on his shoulder and asking him if he was alright.

"Marion!" Robin said exasperated as he moved to a location from which he could look straight at Luke to talk to him, "He's not five. Stop mollycoddling him"

Marion's eyes drifted up to Robin with a look that caused Will to step cautiously back although Robin ignored it, "I think," she said coolly, "that you can wait to make sure he isn't hurt before you start attacking him with questions."

Robin turned expectantly to Will, who, casting a weary glance at Marion said, "He's exhausted and thirsty, probably hungry. But he's not injured."

Luke meanwhile shrugged his shoulder knocking Marion's hand off and sat up straighter, "I'm fine." He looked up at Robin determinedly, "What do you want to ask?"

Robin's face split into a wide grin as he nodded appreciatively at Luke, "See. Luke's a man."

Scoffing, Marion picked herself up from the ground and throwing one more nasty look at Robin stalked over to help Djaq who was cleaning the unknown girl's bruised face.

Before Robin could ask anything of Luke, Will, brushing by with Luke's bag whispered a reminder with emphasis, "he is exhausted."

Robin clapped Will's shoulder in acknowledgment and staring at Luke asked the question on everyone's mind, "Who is she?"

Luke tiredly glanced over at the girl and then met Robin's gaze as he replied, "I don't Know."

The eyes of every outlaw in the camp turned to Luke in surprise.

"Wait." Much said disbelievingly, "you brought a girl, whose identity you do not know, HERE. To US. WHY?"

Luke shrugged, "Where else was I supposed to take her? I was coming here."

From across the camp, near Djaq and Marion where he had been pushing Luke's bag into a storage space Will ran a hand worriedly down his face, had he made a mistake asking Robin to let his 17 year old brother come join the gang?

Robin threw a glance to his men, shushing them and looked back at Luke, "Can you tell us anything about her Luke?"

Taking a deep breath, pushing himself into a better position on the stool, Luke nodded, "I was in the forest. The part closer to Scarsborough though. And I saw a group of eight or so men running through with horses and bags of stuff. I hid off the path and when they went by I went back out and a few hours later, down the road I found a turned over carriage." The outlaws exchanged looks and Robin briefly interrupted Luke's story asking, "Those men. Was one of them really big with blonde hair?"

Luke nodded, his face twisting up in confusion at the groans his nod has evoked.

"They are getting out of hand Robin" Little John commented to which Robin just nodded his head in agreement and gestured for Luke to continue.

"Well," Luke went on, "I stopped to look. The carriage was of nice make, obviously noble but it had been ransacked. There were maybe three guards plus a driver lying dead around it all with colors I didn't recognize. I figured I'd just look in the thing; you know real quick, see what there was. And well," He pointed over to the sleeping girl, "she was there. That bruise was still forming; someone had probably leaned in and whacked her with something. My guess is they thought she was dead, cause they took her dress."

"WHAT?" Marion and Djaq shouted.

"Yeah," Luke nodded quickly, "I mean she had undergarments. But I found that robe lying around. I think it fell out of the bags or something. Anyways, she was moving around a bit so I knew she was alive and I, uh, well, got that robe on her. At which point she came to and started trying to hit me and called me names and stuff. I managed to convince her that I wasn't going to hurt her, and I did get her name, but she kinda passed out again before I could figure out where she was from or where she was going. So, I just brought her here with me, been carrying her at least a couple of hours, and she only woke up again once but only for a minute or so, didn't say a word."

"So, she IS noble." Robin murmured thoughtfully eyeing the figure laid out on the benches.

"Yeah. Well, I think she is" Luke answered.

Will walked over and sitting next to his brother, handed him a bowl of the stew Much had begun passing out as Luke finished up his story. Watching Luke spoon in the food, Will quietly asked, "You said you got her name?"

Everyone turned expectantly to Luke as he nodded and choking back some potato coughed out, "Eithne"


	4. Speculation and the awakening

**A/N: Disclaimer as always, Robin Hood is the property of the BBC. **

**It has however been brought to my attention that I've been misspelling Scarborough, so I just wanted to fix that. Also, sorry it's taken me a while to update this but School's a bitch. Just an observation I've had that I wanted to share though, Will is so damn cute with babies……and I think he's got a thing for them : ) what is it? Two episodes now where he's held a baby? **

"Robin! Will you sit DOWN!" Little John grumbled. The anxiety which had earlier caused Will to fidget now grasped Robin as he paced about the camp, stroking his beard and muttering to himself. A few minutes passed before Robin registered Little John's comment and looked up from his feet. Sucking in a deep breath, Robin looked around at his men, Little John was sharing a drink with Much, Will and Djaq were sorting through Djaq's box of herbs, and Marion was cleaning up after dinner. They all however, with the exception of Luke, who was wrapped up in Will's blankets fast asleep, were staring at him expectantly.

Shaking his head in frustration, Robin returned to pacing, but this time knowing he had the gang's attention voiced his previous mutterings in a much more exuberant manner.

"What was that girl doing in Sherwood forest? She's not coming from the castle or we would have apprehended her ourselves. So she's going to Nottingham. But why? She's noble, but is she an important noble? What has the Sheriff got planned that would bring a young woman to Nottingham?"

"Robin." Marion began quietly, "There may be nothing in it. For all we know, she's not even going to Nottingham."

Robin looked at Marion as though she was being ridiculous, "Of course she's going to Nottingham. Where else would she be going?"

Marion matched his look, creating a tense stare between herself and Robin, "There are hundreds of places beyond Nottingham which one could go through this forest to reach. I believe if one were to come to London from the North, they could very likely pass through here."

Raising an eyebrow in response Robin simply commented, "Long way to go by land"

"It was an example Robin!" Marion shouted in a tone filled with exasperation, "Is Leicester better for you? The point is she could be going to any place! Not everyone is going to Nottingham!"

Will and Djaq quickly leapt up to check on Luke and the girl, removing themselves from the area should any objects being to fly towards Robin's head from Marion's general direction for the glare Marion was directing at Robin was indeed one that hinted at a desire to fling whatever was on hand in Robin's direction. His suspicion and paranoia were beginning to infuriate Marion, first he had squeezed an exhausted 16 yr old boy for information and now he was speculating about a young girl who was attacked by outlaws, it was getting ridiculous. Robin though, found his mood suddenly reversed by Marion's bad temper and quickly transitioned into his usual teasing self.

"Ah yes, Marion, Love," Robin said with a roguish grin, "But you see, Most people are going to Nottingham"

Marion opened her mouth to throw out an angry retort but Much yelled out first, "Why not just wait for the girl to tell us?"

Having shrank back preparing for Marion to transfer her glare to him, Much was pleasantly surprised when she instead agreed with him, "That's exactly what we should do." Much smiled, rather proud of himself and Little John gave him a brief nod in thanks for Much's diversion of a full blown argument. Their satisfaction was short lived however by Marion adding to her agreement, "but Robin insists on speculation. He just can't wait."

Robin, clearly enjoying the reaction he was getting out of Marion, brought his hands up to his chest and twisted his face into his best, 'who me? I'm so insulted' expression.

Marion's eyes began to narrow but they snapped wide apart when Djaq cried out, "She's awake!"

* * *

Within moments, the outlaws were all gathered around the makeshift bed of their mystery girl. She was stirring sleepily and with a moan her lids slowly slid back to reveal eyes the same deep amber brown as brandy. Confusion crossed over her face as she took in the unknown faces hovering over her and her forehead creased as her eyebrows drew together. The girl picked her head up and began trying to prop her body up on her elbows but was stopped by Djaq's small hand pushing down on her shoulder, "Eithne."

The girl's eyes snapped over towards the strange accent pronouncing her name and was met with a pair of eyes darker than her own yet filled with warmth. Djaq smiled reassuringly at her, "Take it easy. Everything is ok. You are with friends."

Eithne gazed over the Saracen women's face, taking in the petite features, dark skin and short choppy hair. Her gaze then slid to each band member in turn, the tall dark haired man, the giant grizzly looking older man, a smaller man with a handkerchief over his hair, one with light brown hair grazing his eyes and confident stance and finally another woman, beautiful with dark curls falling across her shoulders. Eithne studied each of them again, finally she spoke, her voice was raspy to start, but quickly smoothed out, "Where is the other boy?"

"What?" one of them asked, she thought it was the man with the handkerchief.

"The one who found me in the carriage." Eithne said, struggling to recall the face of the boy she'd regained consciousness to as he was pulling a robe around her body. A hint of a smile pulled at her lips as she added, "The one whose eyeballs I tried to scratch out."

Several eyebrows went up as the outlaws glanced over at Luke's sleeping form, looking for the first time past his exhaustion and strange arrival to notice the deep thin red scratches not only around his eyes but all over his cheeks as well.

"He's sleeping." The tall dark haired one that now she had recalled her rescuer's face she noticed seemed to bear a resemblance to him replied.

"Oh." Eithne pursed her lips looking up at all the strange people around her, "What's his name? Did he bring me here?"

The same man responded again, "Luke Scarlett. And yes, you're here because of him."

She nodded, and turning her head to look through various sets of legs at the contraption of wood and canvas housing her asked, "Um. And where is here, exactly?"

"Where's the last place you remember being?" this time it was the one with the confident stance and eye length hair who spoke.

Eithne attempted to shrug as best she could while lying down, "In the forest somewhere. I don't recall the exact name of it, but I know it was at least relatively close to Nottingham"

The man nodded, "Sherwood forest. You're still there. And is Nottingham where you where headed?"

She nodded, "Yes." She noted with interest that the man turned to shoot a significant almost boastful glance at the woman with dark curls and that the woman rolled her eyes in response before continuing, "But what is this place?" a dark look crossed Eithne's face as she attempted to sit up again, "For that matter, Who are you people?"

The Saracen woman moved quickly to ease her back down again and the man with confidence smiled slightly as he said, "The real question my dear is, who are YOU?"

* * *

**A/N: I unfortunately will probably not get much of a chance to add anything more until Friday. Until then, I've got homework to do and swim practice in the morning. Hope you guys enjoyed this. Thanks to everyone whose reviewed, it means a lot to me. Makes me Happy!**


	5. Who Is Eithne?

**A/N : Usual Disclaimer...don't own anything blah blah blah. Ok. I'm WICKED WICKED sorry that I haven't been updating but I have a week off from school so hopfully this means lots of updates. I need to fill my time until the last episode of Robin Hood. I hate the BBC for making us wait so long. anyways, this computer doesn't have Microsoft word so I'm using Word Pad and it's going to irritate me and it doesn't have spell check, so I apoligize ahead of time for any spelling mistakes and terrible grammatical errors. i really do rely too much on spell check. Alright then - on to the story!!!** **It's not my best work but i hope you enjoy. once again i'm SO sorry for the wait and for any errors, I'm sure there are many.**

**Reviews are much appreciated.**

**love to you all, _Unglittering Gold_**

* * *

Eithne stared at the man silently cursing her disadvantage of having to look up at him from the bed, "You tell me first." 

"Well, aren't you the little fiesty one" He commented, his eyes twinkleing with amusement as he held her gaze.

Brushing past him, the raven haired woman knelt down next to the bed and holding out her hand said, "I'm Marion."

Eithne shook the offered hand, surprised to find the hand of such an elegent woman to be so calloused. Marion's move initated a surge forward of the others. The small Saracen woman was Djaq, the tall dark haired man, Will, the one with the handkerchief was Much and the big man was John. Everyone turned expectantly to the confident man whom Eithne had deduced, must be their leader. He gave a slightly cocky grin as he extended his hand, "Robin Hood"

She stared, really, she couldn't help it. During the introductions she had started to feel the space between the two benches she was lying on, but now that discomfort seemed to disappear, "Really?" She asked in an awed whisper. Shit, Eithne internally scolded herself, did she really need to sound like such a little kid?

Robin though seemed proud that she knew of him, "Really. And this here, is our camp. You can thank Will for it"

"You made this?"Eithne was momentarily distracted as her eyes shot over to the tall young man who turned slightly pink, dropping his eyes to the floor. God. She had to stop acting like such a kid. Gathering her thoughts together, Eithne returned to her cool stare, "What do you want?"

The gang looked slightly taken aback by the switch in attitude. Much surprisingly found his voice first and said kindly, "We just want to know who you are and what you were doing in our forest."

She raised an eyebrow, "Your forest? I was under the impression this was the King's forest." Eithne scrunched her shoulders uncomfortbly; promising herself she wouldn't tell them anything until she was allowed to move.

Much gluped like a fish for a few moments before saying hurridly, "We're taking care of it until he returns." The outlaws all turned to look at him, their faces begging him to shut up.

"Ah, Much?" Djaq jumped in, "Why don't we go see if there's any honey, hm?" Much blinked surprised, "Isn't honey a Euphanism?"

It was obviously a private joke as Marion, Robin and John shared a look but Djaq and Will, like Eithne just looked confused.

"What?" Djaq asked looking around the group but only meeting Will's puzzled stare as the others refused to meet her gaze, hiding smiles behind amused eyes.

"Never Mind him Djaq," Robin said, "We could use some honey." He refocused his attention on Eithne as Djaq and Much departed.

She watched them leave, "What was all that about?"  
"Yeah, Robin what was that all about" Eithne was pleased that she had read the outlaws correctly, Will was just as out of the loop as she was.

"Long Story" It was John who answered and in a manner suggesting the topic was closed to further discussion. Will narrowed his eyes but seemed to decide he would let it go.

Robin grinned at Eithne, who blinked in return, "Now, working from Much's original statement. We just want to know who you are."

Eithne twisted her shoulders again, seriously, she had to sit up, the hard wood of the benches were killing her, "What's it matter? You've helped me. Now why can't I just go on my way?"

"You really do ask a lot of questions. You know that?" Robin demanded exhasperated as the grin slipped off his face."Yes. We helped you and we told you who we are, the least you can do it return the favor"

She was starting to feel a little guilty now about holding out, especially since they probably would be so dissapointed when they discovered she was no one special, but she found that she wanted to win, she couldn't just give in. "Do you always make people stay as uncomfortable as possible when questioning them or are you trying something new?"

He covered his face with his hands, glaring at her through his fingers slowly dragging them down, preparing to tell her just how uncomfortable he could make her when a voice shaking off the remains of sleep echoed from behind him making everyone jump.

Luke had awoken unnoticed and had now joined the group "Why can't she sit up or something?"

He walked forward and Will started to reach out and stop him but Luke had already slipped his hands under Eithne's armpits. Eithne pushed on her hands helping him lift her into a sitting postion, offering a small smile to the boy who acted as her savior for a second time that day. Luke grinned back and Eithne couldn't help but notice the handsome features and the rich brown hair messy from sleep. His still sleepy olive green eyes though met her own and her small smile widened as she quickly looked away painfully aware of his hands holding up her body. As he helped her lean her back against the wall a low voice muttered, "Djaq said she should stay down". Will was standing next to Luke, holding the makeshift pillow. Eithne gave him a grateful look as he slipped it behind her back with the two standing so close, the resemblence was obivous and Eithne wondered if they were brothers, "I want to Sit"

He seemed to think about it for a moment, not wanting to go against Djaq, but ulitmaly shrugged and both he and Luke moved back to stand with Robin, Marion and John.

Able to look at them at a more equal level and with the pain in her back beginning to reside, Eithne met Robin's eyes and stated, " My name is Eithne and I come from Liverpool. My father recently passed away and my mother has returned to her ancestoral home in Ireland. I've been sent to my brother who's recently returned from school in France. He's currently in Nottingham attempting to curry favor with The Sheriff of Nottingham and ultimately Prince John. It is his hope i believe to use me to secure a marrige and connections."


	6. I'll Do It

**A/N : I'm going CRAZY waiting for someone to upload the series finale of Robin Hood. Gah!!!!!! Of course I'm sitting here going, "NO spoilers…do not go looking for spoilers." But I of course slipped and now am DIEING waiting to see it cause 1) seriously? No way, there's no way they are keeping that character dead and 2) please, they have to come back next season. It makes NO sense for them to stay there. Come on, who else is going to engineer things for Robin or use science to save the day?**

**But the beautiful part of Fan Fiction is we can ignore what we don't like and keep things going the way we want. I WANT TO WATCH IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Anyways, I own nothing except Eithne because I did create her. And thank you so much for the reviews, I love you guys dearly. Please keep them coming.**

_**Unglittering Gold**_

* * *

Marion raised one slender eyebrow, "and who is your brother planning on marrying you off to?"

Eithne shrugged in reply dropping her head to stare at her hands, "anyone who will take me I suppose, as long as they can help Eamon advance himself."

An irritated grunt caused Eithne to look up into the face of a furious Marion.

"Despicable. Using women as bartering tools, I'm sick of it!" Marion seethed, her eyes burning with anger. Marion's reaction startled Eithne and curious as to the others reactions, she took a look around at the outlaws. Robin looked at though an idea had occurred to him with an expression that gazed off into the distance; John seemed unchanged a permanent scowl etched across his face and Will appeared disgusted. It was Luke though that surprised her the most; he was the only one who met her eyes but his sleepy gaze was gone and replaced with a strange blur of emotions that Eithne had difficulty separating into individual feelings. She couldn't understand why he was looking at her like that, but mostly she was finding it difficult to understand why she seemed to care so much about what someone she barely knew thought.

Breaking eye contact, Eithne tore her gaze back to Marion speaking with the tone of one who has accepted their fate, "It's not uncommon."

"And that makes it right?" Marion hissed back, "They act as though we women have no thoughts of our own. No feelings! Can you honestly say to me that you are willing to enter into a marriage because some man has ordered you to? And for what? For his own personal gain."

"You don't really seem the type who'd allow herself to be pushed around." Will's quiet voice broke through the silence that followed Marion's speech. Eithne turned her head to look at him as emotions that over the past few months she had managed to suppress came bubbling to the surface.

She blinked away the tears she could feel forming, and with a bitter tone addressed not only Will but Marion and her 'righteousness' as well, "What choice do I have? I have no where to go. My mother ran off to Ireland, my father is dead; I have one brother dead in the Holy Lands and another still there fighting. Any friends I may have had in Liverpool were executed by Prince John or were too poor to even feed themselves." Here she paused, and focused on Marion before adding, "And I do not have the luxury of outlaw friends to run to. Eamon is my only option."

Although visibly reprimanded, Marion reached out clutching one of Eithne's hands whispering, "There is always a choice."

Snatching her hand away Eithne glared around at them all, shouting, "What choice? I thought I made it clear. There's no where to run to! What? Should I stay here with you? I don't even know you! And I doubt you lot take in every girl escaping a marriage."

"What about a convent?" Little John growled.

Eithne opened her mouth to snap but seeing genuine concern in his eyes, lowered her tone and sighed quietly, "I am not one for the life of a nun. I could never give myself to live my days in repetitive solitude with only other soured women as company."

"You would rather live a life of servitude to a man you do not love?" Luke asked, it was a question instead of an accusation.

Eithne offered a small smile, "I plan to hold out as long as possible. Play fickle, and hope that someone I can tolerate comes into the picture. It will at least be a release from Eamon's control."

"We can make you an extremely woman difficult to marry." Everyone turned to Robin, who was now looking determinedly at Eithne. He knelt down by the bed holding Eithne's gaze "you play your game to chase them off and we'll play ours - frighten them a bit."

Eithne's eyes narrowed with suspicion, "What's in it for you?"

Robin laughed, "Maybe we're just trying to help you."

"That's a lot of work to help one person. And Marion seems of the opinion that men are out for themselves, I presume you to be included." Robin momentarily broke his gaze from Eithne to swivel his head around and glare at Marion, "Marion, love, I'm insulted!"

She cocked her head to the side and shot him a crocked grin raising her shoulders in a shrug.

Shaking his head in mock disappointment, Robin resumed all seriousness and holding Eithne's eyes with his own said, "In return, we need information. We need the comings and goings of the castle. We need someone to counteract Allan."

"Who?" Eithne asked as Marion shouted, "What?" Little John Bellowed, "NO!" and Will exclaimed. "That's too dangerous Robin!"

"What's too dangerous?" The gang spun around to see Much standing in the entrance looking confused holding a jar.

"Is that honey?" Robin asked squinting at the jar.

"What else would it be?" Djaq asked, a puzzled expression on her face as she appeared behind Much and took in the scene before her.

Much nodded, "Apparently there is some. Now-"

He was cut off by Djaq exclaiming, "What is going on here?"

Will's voice jumped in, "Robin wants her to take Marion's spot in the castle."

Djaq though had raced over to the bed and was leaning over Eithne holding her hand to her forehead anxiously checking her patient while Eithne squirmed trying to swat away Djaq's hand.

"WHAT?" Much shouted, staring at Robin, "Are you mad? It's dangerous and well, how do we know we can trust her?"

Questioning eyes from the gang focused on Robin and his own questioning eyes probed Eithne. Finally convincing Djaq that she was alright and not going to fall over dead Eithne met Robin's eyes squarely, "WHO is ALLAN???"

"A traitor." Hissed Little John. The others looked uneasily among themselves and Eithne could see that whoever this Allan was, he seemed to be a sore subject.

"He was one of us." Robin replied coolly, "Now he works for Gisbourne and the Sheriff."

There was some more awkward shuffling which everyone ultimately decided to cover up by staring expectantly at Eithne.

Thoughts overwhelmed her brain. If caught, she would die, Eamon wouldn't save her, especially not if he felt betrayed. Unfortuantly in a matter of moments Robin had managed to shatter the charade she had built for herself that she had come to terms with her fate. Hope came flaring back up as she contemplated assisting the outlaws, avoiding an unwanted marriage and upon the return of King Richard living as she wished. Plus, she found herself intrigued by the outlaws, they each were so different, yet so passionate and so intertwined with one another. Eithne felt her eyes drawn towards Luke and couldn't help but think, 'and him I want to know'.

"You can trust me. I'll Do it."


	7. Lost in thoughts

**A/N : ok Guys, here we go again. Another chapter! Wahoo! Sorry it's taken me awhile, I've got swim team every day of the week and a meet every Saturday…so I haven't had a lot of time on my hands. Enough excuses! **

**This chapter is going to be from Luke's POV. Oh, and Robin Hood belongs to the BBC, not me.**

**Reviews are much loved and appreciated, so please do so, and feel free to leave suggestions or helpful criticism. **

_**Unglittering Gold**_

* * *

Luke watched skeptically as Djaq eased Eithne down to her back and slowly poured an unidentifiable liquid down her throat. In a few short minutes Eithne's eyes drooped down and her chest fell up and down in the rhythmic breaths of sleep. Eyebrows shooting up into his hair, Luke turned to look across the table at his brother, "Um, is that stuff safe?"

Will looked up casually from rough sticks of wood he was smoothing into arrow shafts, "What stuff?"

"You know, that weird stuff Djaq gave Eithne that made her sleep."

Leaning slightly to look around Luke at the sleeping girl, Will shrugged, "Yeah, I'm sure it is." And he bent his head back down, biting his lower lip slightly as he scraped away at the wood.

Luke glared at the top of Will's dark head, "But you don't know for certain? You're not positive?"

"Djaq said it was fine. It's fine." Will muttered, distracted by his work.

"So, do you believe everything Djaq tells you?" Luke demanded, not willing to let it go, even though he knew he should have.

Will's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed slightly, "I would trust Djaq with my life." His voice was slightly deeper than normal carrying a hint of what would happen if Luke questioned Djaq again.

Not having expected quite so violent a response from Will, Luke; although he didn't like to admit it, shrunk back a little from his brother, "Right then." He nodded and rose from the seat at the table.

Walking across the camp, Luke perched himself up on Will's bunk and with part caution part curiosity watched as Djaq moved to occupy his discarded seat. As she slid onto the stool, Will's face split into a grin and he reached across to place one of the completed arrow shafts into Djaq's outstretched hand. She smiled back at him, pulling up a bucket of feathers that Luke had noticed under the table when he was sitting in the same place. While Luke couldn't make out what they were saying, the two where holding an amiable conversation while Djaq carefully and with precision attached feathers to the arrow shafts that Will was smoothing. Watching them, Luke noticed that there was a certain familiarity to their actions, as though it was something they did all the time. Then, with a feeling of rejection, Luke realized it was something they did all the time and that the whole time Luke had been talking to him; he had probably been waiting for him to go away so Djaq could join him.

Angry at Will, Luke tore his gaze away to study the others. This though only served to make him feel lonelier and more unwanted. Much and Little John where sitting relaxed by the fire, aside from Much's humming, neither where saying much but appeared comfortable in each other's silences. Robin and Marion sat a little ways apart somewhere between Much and the table where Will and Djaq worked with the arrows. They all had rituals, habits and ways of doing things that they had all come to accept and even anticipate. Luke felt as he had when he had first come to Scarsbourgh, he couldn't make them adjust for him, he had to find his own place and adjust to them. With a loud sigh, Luke pulled his knees to his chest and resting his chin on his bent knees and allowed his eyes to fall on Eithne. He stared at her, gently fingering one of the deeper of the scratches she had left on his face. Her attempted defense of herself despite being obviously weakened had inspired respect in him and he couldn't help but be attracted to the strange girl lying there looking so innocent in her drug induced sleep. Although he felt slightly embarrassed doing so, his eyes roamed over her body. Her figure was obscured by the large robe, but Luke remembered a soft figure that could've been called curvy if it where not for her lack of certain, well, he could feel himself blushing, 'assets'. His gaze moved up to her face, he smiled slightly, wondering what she was dreaming of as her eyelids briefly flickered and the edges of her lips rose in a small smile. Her hair, he eyed with regret, it was abundant but would probably have to be cut to remove all the snarls and tangles.

This study of Eithne was disturbed by a gentle hand dropping to rest on Luke's shoulder and the new weight of a person sitting next to him. His head turned suddenly, colliding with the head of the other person.

"Ow!" Marion's hand flew from Luke's shoulder to her own head.

"Oh. Oh." Luke looked around quickly, glad to see that Robin had joined Much and Little John and appeared to be deep in conversation with Much. "I am so sorry Marion."

He dropped his knees back down so his feet rest on the floor and reached out his hands to steady Marion. She shook her head, slowly moving her hand away from when his own head had connected with her face, "I'm alright Luke, No worries."

He dropped his own hands into his lap and stared questioningly at her. Marion appeared concerned as she eyed Luke asking quietly, "Are you ok? Is everything alright?"

Luke blushed, there was no way he could tell Marion any of the thoughts that had been just running through his head. Marion wisely chose to ignore the blush giving Luke time to think of something to say. Another question that had been weighing on his mind since Robin had asked Eithne to be an informant in the castle popped into his head and he blurted it out, "Just how dangerous is this spying thing that Robin wants Eithne to do?"

Marion's face darkened and she looked at Luke with an earnest expression, "It could be very dangerous. We best hope she is as quick as she seems or I fear we may see her or ourselves swinging from a rope."

"It's that bad?" Luke asked, his eyes wide, "What about, whatishis name? Allan? Can't he watch out for her?"

A sad smile spread across Marion's face, "You know he's a traitor Luke? He is not who he seemed."

"Yeah." Luke nodded, "But he never turned you in, did he?"

She shook her head but answered solomly, "I managed to keep him quiet. But Eithne is not famillar to him, I could not say how Allan would react if he where to discover her. To Eithne, he has no ties, no connections, and no past loyalties. Add to it, she is new at the castle and is not being pursued by Guy. I fear she has a tough job ahead of her. One I do not know how she will accomplish."

There was an awkward pause as Marion ended her response and she squeezed Luke's shoulder briefly before going to sit with the others by the fire.

Luke laid down on the bunk leaning his side in order to face Eithne, lost in contemplation of Marion's words. He only realized he had fallen asleep when he was briefly awakened by Will running a hand over his hair and draping him with a blanket.


	8. Send Off to Nottingham

**A/N: Hey guys I'm writing this on my aunt's computer at her house while waiting to go see 27 Dresses with my friends. Wahoo. Anyhow, here's a new chapter, hope it's not crap. **

**I would absolutely LOVE it if you would take the few seconds to review – they mean a lot to me and are a good incentive to keep writing. **

_**Unglitering Gold**_

Robin, Much, Djaq, Will, Eithne and Luke stood looking towards the walled city of Nottingham from their place at the top of a hill, covered by the shadows of the forest.

"I still think she should've eaten more." Much leaned against a tree, his arms crossed over his chest and head slumped down, chin resting on his chest.

Djaq sighed audibly and turned to Much, "I've told you before Much, we can't let her eat this morning" here she shot an apologetic look at Eithne, " she can't appear at the castle having supposedly been robbed and seem to be in perfect condition. As she is still weak and a lack of food is adding to that-"

"Yeah, no kidding" Eithne cut off Djaq as she rubbed her stomach, her twisted facial expression reflecting her discomfort. Luke looked over her head at Will and when Will met his eyes, the brothers in silent agreement each relaxed their hold on Eithne's arms to slowly lower her to the forest floor in a sitting position.

"Anyways," Robin continued in place of Djaq, "the walk to the city walls should be a little to much for her state to handle. But not so exerting as to injure her in any way."

Much just grunted, "I know. But I wish someone had told me before I made her a nice breakfast."

"Trust me Much, I wanted that nice breakfast" Eithne mumbled.

'Sorry." Djaq said again, "We have to."

"I know, I know." Eithne reached up and grabbed hold of Luke's arm pulling herself back up on her feet, "Let's just get this thing over with shall we. Then maybe someone will give me food."

Robin laughed appreciatively, "Maybe you and Much should get together sometime. Always thinking about food."

"I don't always think about food." Eithne snapped defensivly, "You're depriving me of it."

Deciding that it would be easier just to ignore her, Robin nodded to Luke who gently reached over to pull Eithne's fingers from around his forearm.

"You ready?" Luke asked her.

Briefly forgetting about the hunger burning in her stomach, Eithne stared at Luke's hand still clutching her fingers – her mind a sudden blank. Snapping herself back to reality, angry that she was thinking about a boys touch when she was facing eminent danger Eithne yanked her hand away, "I'll be fine thanks"

Luke looked surprised but was left gaping at Eithne's retreating back as she marched out of the trees and down the hill.

A hand clasped over Luke's shoulder, "Lukie, don't."

"Don't what?" Luke asked, turning to meet Will's warning expression.

With a crease forming between his eyebrows, Will searched his brother's face, "This isn't the time or place for girls."

Luke snorted, "You should talk"

The worried crease turned into one of puzzlement, "What?"

Luke didn't reply, just stalked off into the trees but Djaq appeared next to Will in his place and he smiled softly at her.

She smiled back, although sadly, "Do you think she will be alright?"

After a moment, Will looked down at her and nodded, "She's a tough sort. I think she will."

"Come one. Little John and Marion have already started the drop offs." Robin's voice broke into Will and Djaq's musings. They jumped slightly but with one last look towards Nottingham they turned into the woods. Moving to join them, Robin peaked back through the trees at the increasingly small form making its way across the fields and prayed the girl wouldn't fail them.


End file.
